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Saturday, January 2, 2016

OSR Christmas 2015 - Finale - Remix Mini - Android PC - (US Only)

Found pic online

Time to wrap up OSR Christmas as best I can. I still have to award some gifts to award (business card sized character sheets and such - will do so later today) but here's the final offering from The Tavern: a Remix Mini. It's an Android PC that fits in your hand (size is 5" x 3 1/2" x 1"). Just add monitor, keyboard and mouse and you have a fully working PC. It should be low power consumption for those that worry about such.

Actual back of box being offered

For me, mine is going to be set up on the mini bar we'll have built into our living room in late spring.

How do you get your hands possibly on one?

Just comment on this post with "how I use computers with my gaming". Comment by January 6th, 1PM Eastern or so. I'll pick a person to receive the gift at that time. Remember, US only.

45 comments:

Wow, what a cool thing! I use my computers for gaming in a few different ways. One, since April I've had the connectivity and computing power in my house to join online games. My participation has exploded. Since I have a desktop, I'm chained to my desk area, but at some point I want to get something that lets me get out of the mainstream of the house so there's less gleeful participation (or shrieks resisting the injustice of everything) from my children leaking into the game. Hide in a closet or something.

I also use my computer to make games. Big ones, little ones, derivative ones, weirdo versions. From the Avengers to Gothic fantasy to a Star Wars remix, I'm always tinkering. Now that I'm doing a lot more with Google docs, I can dip in from multiple machines or locations with less version control difficulty than previously.

Awesome giveaway! I use my computer to read a lot of gaming stuff- PDFs, Blogs, etc. I have big plans to do some online OSR games this year. Everything I write for games, from rules variants, to adventures, to my blog is done from my PC.

My primary use of computers in gaming is reading game materials as most of my collection is in PDF. I read a lot about games and gaming through blogs and social media posts, and contribute bits here and there when people are looking for feedback or ideas.

Most of my gaming is also done online, through either chat clients (like Hangouts) or play-by-post forums.

I use mu PC (right now a laptop) at the gaming table to keep track of initiative, and other combat status items such as monster hp and 1 use, or limited use powers or attacks. A smaller footprint at the table is always for the better.

I use mu PC (right now a laptop) at the gaming table to keep track of initiative, and other combat status items such as monster hp and 1 use, or limited use powers or attacks. A smaller footprint at the table is always for the better.

I use my pc for just about everything related to gaming - looking up/searching rules on PDFs, playing music during games, creating maps, character sheets & handouts, scouring the internet for inspiration (which includes reading G+ & blogs like this). At this point I almost find it difficult to imagine gaming without a PC.

I use my pc for just about everything related to gaming - looking up/searching rules on PDFs, playing music during games, creating maps, character sheets & handouts, scouring the internet for inspiration (which includes reading G+ & blogs like this). At this point I almost find it difficult to imagine gaming without a PC.

That's the requirement for entry, right? I use Google Docs & Sheets to organize campaign materials and make handouts and tokens, but I avoid using devices at the table because of the potential for distraction.

I forgot to add that I read about the Jide remix a while back on Lilliputing. You must have gotten in early to get the $30 deal. This sounds like a device that _could_ be a very satisfying desktop replacement for light use if it lives up to its hype. I'd be curious to read a review after some hands-on experience. How is the multitasking solution on this OS?

I create gaming materials with computers such as game maps, print & paste terrain, I write and print adventures, I keep notes on campaigns and future adventures, I schedule games, I roll dice and generates PCs and NPC.

"How I use computers with my gaming": I use PCs in gaming when I play online games via G+, when I DM I often have a tablet with some random generators via seventhsanctum for book titles and the like. I also keep my PCs on machine so I don't have to keep printing them up. Some DMs don't mind me having a laptop or tablet and the table and for those that do I print up the character.

Prior to the game, I use my computer to generate random NPCs and encounter tables (via custom Perl Scripts); track and manage NPCs, hirelings, and factions (via spreadsheets); and sketch out likely events and reactions to player actions for each campaign session.

I play exclusively online nowadays. Well, I do play sometimes with my kids, and I hope to do so more. I use Roll20 and Hangouts, as well as Skype for my gaming. I also do a lot of my mapping and campaign building using things like OneNote and Pintrest.

Not playing online, but man do I use some PDFs in my gaming! Podcasts are another key component of my learning and expanding in gaming that just never would have happened without computers. That and using Purple Sorcerer for DCC item, spell and character generation.

I use computers extensively during game prep. I have most of my books in both print and pdf formats but I tend to read the pdfs, and use the books at the table, when I prep I use both. Pdfs are nice since I can just print out a page or two from a book if it is something that will come in handy at the table.

These days with PDFs being as useful as they are in cutting down your encumbrance load, they fill up my laptop hard drive and are the primary reference materials used at the table. When I can't play live, computers are used to do online games with friends and variouse virtual table tops are used to roll dice and send out images. Computers are pretty well integrated into my gaming life style these days.

Writing adventures, writing blog posts, reading blog posts, download maps, enhance maps, format adventures and maps, play games twice a week (hoping to sneak in more if I can), talking to other gmaers, reading news about games and buying as much RPG stuff as I can read.

I use computers and tablets in different ways with RPGs, besides the prep work I do as a GM.

First, I have one group where we play 5e and Castles & Crusades using Fantasy Grounds.

Second, at face-to-face sessions, I use my tablet as a GM. I really like using Evernote or One Note to manage my adventure because it's very modular, which works really well with sandbox adventures. If the group goes on Quest 5, then I can skip to a note just with that quest. My NPCs, Monsters, locations, and quests are all separate notes, so it's very quick and easy to find information.

Also, I still like having printed rules, but I'll have a PDF of the rules (if there is one).

I've also used the tablet for sounds sparingly or even more rarely for pictures or video.

When the game has more complex character sheets, I've come to prefer a digital character sheet, especially if it links to more detailed descriptions for spells and abilities. It makes checking the details much faster.

I mostly use computers for organizing, and printing out stuff. I'm a pretty analog gamer. I do have a "fairly" high-tech house, so more little computers are always good, especially internet access. I would use my computers to play music during my sessions (when I remember). I either play instrumental Metal mix: https://play.google.com/music/r/m/L64de43mxabb6hppb6ueewtnqya?t=Instru-Metal or tracks from this guy: http://www.rpgnow.com/browse/pub/4847/Plate-Mail-Games

Very nice. I use computers with my gaming mostly by reading the Tavern and other blogs. I occasionally use it to play a game over Hangouts. I also use it to record characters, adventure logs, maps, pics and assorted game paraphernalia. Of course, email and messaging and reminders are essential also to stay in the loop. I've done PbP, PbE and such from time to time. Yeah, if it weren't for my computer I probably wouldn't be gaming at all anymore.

Wonderful! I've been learning Roll20 with the intent of using it for an upcoming Dungeon Crawl Classics game session and I have innumerable pdf's of modules and rulebooks that use as references during games sessions. And I've been watching the many recorded game sessions from Critical Role and other game groups just to see how other people run their games (If you haven't seen Critical Role on twitch you are missing out, professional voice actors playing D&D!)

Hmm that's a neat little PC. I use the PC to read RPG PDFs, watch gaming live streams (I don't have time for heavy console gaming, but I like to stay in the loop), browsing around BGG, G+ and Reddit, participating in Roll20.net, and retro gaming via emulators. I also keep track of character sheets via Android apps when possible.

This is a great gift for one of us. I use my PC for reading a large variety of blogs; plotting out my 5E campaign on Evernote; creating my maps, even though I have not found a program/site I love yet; playing Magic online and Heartstone; one day soon I am hoping to experiment with a VTT for my group.

Nowadays I use computers as ancillary devices to my gaming: I use PDF releases to enjoy the bounty of the DIY gaming culture, use GIMP to clean up my hand-drawn maps (for posting and printing out for my own use), and for building my new blog.

Part of gaming for me is the tactility of it: I like pens, papers, books, dice. Same for mapping. There's something about the feel of real pens and real paper that is relaxing. The computer is a great support device, but I never want it to be a centerpiece.

There was a long period where my gaming (3.5 and Shadowrun) was exclusively computer-mediated, via obsessive MUSHing. Sadly, it appears that the age of the MUSH is largely over.

My computer is primarily an archive of data and pdfs. It has allowed me to consolidate my library for much faster research when I am looking for specific details relating to a particular game setting. I don't have enough time these days to devote to online gaming. I am working on making sure I have enough time so I can teach my kids so they can inherit and carry on the tradition.

The main way I currently use computers with gaming is to teleconference in a player who lives across the country to our Sunday D&D game (the player in question lives in Massachusetts and we live in Colorado). I set up my laptop with webcam, sign into Google Hangouts, and BAM! We have a cleric!

In game planning I've found my computer has become essential: from the myriad of sourcebooks and settings stored as .pdfs to custom campaign notes, new player handouts and in-character flyers . . . it's the backbone of my game prep.

At table my experience with digital gaming was primarily as a player: eight years of remote skype, google hangout and yahoo messenger sessions into a decade long campaign I first started playing in on another coast. A custom AD&D affair mashed up with Runequest that went from 1st level to fifth and then back again - dual classing the hard way from a feckless rogue into a name level fighter and champion. But as a GM - well, I'm a paper and pencils and mini's guy; I've not kept abreast of tablet and virtual tabletop GMing advances save for one thing.

Soundtracks.

Gimmicky? Maybe. But I've found it adds a little something - custom playlists for each dungeon level to help differentiate natural caverns from abandoned mines and forgotten, despoiled ruins: encounter music to add a jolt of adrenaline and background ditties to help sell a village as an Arcadian hamlet or a western frontier town. I've found the auditory element reinforces the verbal description and helps keeps the sense of place in mind the way nothing else does.

Plus, playing Boot Hill to the Kill Bill soundtrack just WORKS, y'know?

I use a computer for my game the same way I use a computer for every other part of my life that requires the use, compilation and dissemination of information! I draft my worlds and adventures on my computer, and print them before the session. During the sessions, I use the computer to track experience, play sound effects, do quick research, pull up star maps (in Traveller), print extra character sheets as needed, etc. After a session, I update my files based on what took place, including adding new NPCs, changing dungeon inventories, modifying maps, updating my calendars, etc. Without a computer, the amount of paper I'd go through would be staggering!

I use a computer in different ways.. Mainly game prep, and to help with my notes for the adventure. I have the PDF of the module I'm running (if available) and keep that handy while playing, also have various notes and such I need to reference..

In my group, email is the main way we confirm attendance and share session summaries, as well as some discussion of things that might come up during the game (rules, what WAS that thing, etc.). I tried using my laptop for mood music but it's kind of distracting. I also keep anything I jot down for the game (adventure ideas, etc.) on Google drive for reference but always want a hard-copy at the table; the computer (and phone) go off once play begins.

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Contributors

Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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